Posted in: Disney+, Kaitlyn Booth, Marvel, Review, streaming, TV | Tagged: disney, loki, marvel, Review, tom hiddleston, tv

Loki Episode 3 Gets to the Heart of the Matter, Better For It: Review

The third episode of Marvel Studios and Disney Plus' Loki is here to give fans what they have wanted for years; a character sitting down and talking about their feelings. At the end of episode two, we found out that the Loki variant that is running around is actually a woman. For the entire third episode, we follow Loki and Sylvie as they try to escape an apocalypse. This is one of those episodes that people are either going to love or hate because, in terms of actual things happening, there isn't much. However, unlike the first episode, which felt like an entire hour of setup, this episode felt more important because it focuses entirely on character development.

As someone watching the show, we have to remember that the Loki we are following is not the Loki that died at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, and there are times that the dissonance can be a little weird. We are watching some development happen a second time but in a different way. We're finally seeing a Loki that might care a little bit about the people around him and, is in a way, looking to move from being a villain to a hero. We see the first of those baby steps in this episode as we are once again surrounded by characters who don't know they will die while the protagonists and the audience know it. It makes for an interesting morality; you have the potential knowledge to try and save someone on this dying planet; how do you decide who to save and what happens if you do?

That isn't a question that they grapple with much in this episode, but we do see it in the subtext and in the background information. We have an almost Snowpierer type situation with an affluent train taking the rich away to a ship that is going to save them while the poor people in the background begging to be let on. The show isn't subtle about who it is going after, and it certainly isn't trying to be either.

This episode is also where we get to see a lot of Sylvie, and she is fantastic. Sophia Di Martino is not here doing a Loki impression of Tom Hiddleston; this character is very much her own thing and has clearly gone through things that Loki has not. We still don't know that much about her or even if she really is a variant of Loki or something else, but she is a great character. The highlight of the episode is the scene pictured above where Loki and Sylvie just talk about their lives. It's also the moment we get confirmation that both variants of Loki are queer in some way.

It was a surprisingly nuanced way of going about confirming a character is queer since one would expect Marvel to shout it from the root tops. Instead, the confirmation of Loki being gender fluid and queer has either been hidden in the marketing or revealed in a casual conversation like it isn't a big deal which it isn't. This kind of confirmation without making it the central point of a character is a good type of representation that we've really only seen in the Deadpool movies. While sexuality is part of a person's life, it isn't the only thing that defines them, and too often, queer characters are only defined by their queerness. Loki, and by extension Sylvie, it is implied, are queer, and that is just part of who they are as characters. It's a great way to approach proper representation.

The third episode of Loki might not have had a ton of things happening, but the character stuff is the thing that makes this episode good. Unlike the first episode, which felt like nothing but setup, this third episode was set up by way of character development which is how this should be done.

SCORE: 9/10

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